Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Being held captive on a South Pacific island and forced to submit to the depravity of strange men was horrific, but it wasn’t the worst experience of Kelly Taylor’s life. Abused as a child and abandoned once she turned eighteen, Kelly is now free…except for the threatening text messages she’s receiving.
Ex-Navy SEAL Leif Ramsey—known as Phoenix—is only too happy to become personal security for the gorgeous Kelly…until she opens her mouth. Nothing but pure poison spews from her full pink lips. Still, it’s a job that pays very well, and Leif has certainly been through worse. He can handle a vicious young woman. After all, she’s been through hell. They have that in common.
Leif investigates Kelly’s threatening texts while trying to ignore his desire for his feisty charge. The sparks between them finally explode, but the threat to Kelly intensifies, and Leif vows to protect her no matter what.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
ASPEN
Buck and I get married at Luke and Katelyn’s beach house.
I was surprised Buck agreed to it, but he and Luke seem to have finally come to an understanding between them.
Katelyn and I are ecstatic about it. Because we’re besties, the four of us will be spending a lot of time together.
Katelyn is, of course, my maid of honor, and Buck’s sister Emily is my bridesmaid. Coming back to this house couldn’t have been easy for her, but she did it for Buck and for me.
Buck has two best men. His brother, Johnny, and his fellow SEAL, Leif Ramsey. Also known as Phoenix.
I’m dancing with Phoenix later. He’s tall and muscular, like Buck, but there the similarities end. Leif is blond and blue-eyed with light skin.
“Thank you for being here,” I tell him. “For Buck. It means everything to him.”
“I’ll always be here for Buck,” Leif says. “We’re brothers.”
His phone buzzes.
“Do you mind?”
“Of course not.”
He leads me off the dance floor and looks at his phone.
“Oh, shit.”
“Is anything the matter?”
“I need to talk to Buck.”
“Leif, this is our wedding day. Please…”
“I know, Aspen. And I’m sorry.”
Buck is on the dance floor with his sister.
Emily and Luke seem to have made their peace as well, and for that I’m grateful. Emily is radiant—she looks like Buck in female form—and she seems ecstatic with her significant other, Scotty, a half-Hawaiian surfer boy who’s now studying to be a licensed psychologist.
A moment later, Buck is leaving the dance floor with Leif. They go inside the house.
I wait.
And I wait.
Only a few minutes have passed, but I can’t take it any longer. I head into the house to find them.
They’re deep in conversation when—
“Aspen, baby.”
“Exactly what’s going on?”
“I’m so sorry,” Buck says, “but I need to go back to New York.”
“All right. In two weeks. After our trip to the Virgin Islands.”
“I promise you, baby, we will have the honeymoon of the century. But we have to put it off for a little while.”
The spoiled little girl inside me wants to stomp and hold my breath, but I don’t. This is Buck. The man who loves me. And he wouldn’t make me postpone my honeymoon unless it was very important.
He is who he is. He’s Buck. He saves people. He wouldn’t be the man I love if he didn’t do that.
“Why? What is it?”
“It’s another one of the women from the island.” Buck shakes his head. “Opal. She’s in trouble.”
I swallow. “Kelly?”
Kelly was different. She used to get jealous when someone was chosen over her. None of us understood her. Of course, none of us tried to understand anything while we were there. We were simply trying to keep our own heads above water.
“Yeah,” Phoenix says. “A threat has been made against her…by another woman from the island.”
1
LEIF
Cheating Buck and Aspen out of their honeymoon wasn’t on my to-do list, but the Wolfe family pays us big money to take care of these women and keep them safe.
They even sent their private jet to bring us back from LA to New York. Aspen insisted on coming with us, and even though Buck and I both tried to talk her out of it, that woman has a mind of her own.
Buck is worried for her safety, and so am I, but from what I can tell, the woman can take care of herself. She’s tall, strong, athletic. Gorgeous with dark hair and eyes. She and Buck will make beautiful kids.
Damn.
Kids.
I can’t believe Buck is married. That last tour of duty fucked both of us up so bad, I wasn’t sure either of us would be able to have a decent relationship, but Buck defied the odds. He and Aspen are perfect together.
As for me? I’m not looking. I don’t think I’ll ever look. Definitely too fucked up. Torture and violation… We’re prepared for it during training, but can you ever be truly prepared?
No.
You can’t.
Buck and I are meeting Reid and Rock Wolfe at their office this morning, and of course Aspen is tagging along. Once we get through security in the Wolfe building, we take the elevator to the main office and check in with the receptionist.
“The Wolfes are expecting you,” the receptionist says with a smile. “Have a seat, and someone will come get you soon.”
I plunk my ass down on a comfortable couch in the reception area. Buck and Aspen sit across from me on another couch, Aspen twiddling her thumbs.
Buck and I both rise when Reid Wolfe, dressed in his signature navy-blue tailored suit, walks out to greet us. Fatherhood suits him. He looks more at ease these days. When I first met Reid, he was a stiff businessman who had no time for anything but work—unless it was a quick fuck with his woman du jour. Now he’s a devoted family man, married to one of his father’s victims and a father himself to an adorable infant girl.